As Egypt’s government attempts to crackdown on street protests by shutting down internet and mobile phone services, the US is preparing to reintroduce a bill that could be used to shut down the internet.

The legislation, which would grant US President Barack Obama powers to seize control of and even shut down the internet, would soon be reintroduced to a senate committee, Wired.com reported.

Senator Susan Collins, a co-sponsor of the bill, said that unlike in Egypt, where the government was using its powers to quell dissent by shutting down the internet, it would not.

“My legislation would provide a mechanism for the government to work with the private sector in the event of a true cyber emergency,” Collins said in an emailed statement to Wired. “It would give our nation the best tools available to swiftly respond to a significant threat.”

The proposed legislation, introduced into the US Senate by independent senator Joe Lieberman, who is chairman of the US Homeland Security committee, seeks to grant the President broad emergency powers over the internet in times of national emergency.

I don’t want President Obama, Susan Collins or Joe Lieberman having control of my access to a “free press” which today includes the internet.

More communication and connectivity is better for liberty and freedom, than less.

It appears so as moderate GOP Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins say no to Obama’s public option.

More proof that the “public option” is all but dead comes from the two senators Democrats hoped might side with them in supporting the measure in a health care reform bill.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said President Obama “should take it off the table” since it would “give real momentum to building consensus,” reports The Hill.

Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she would not even support a “trigger” option in any legislation, meaning a provision to delay a public option and allow health insurance companies to lower costs on their own, according to the Washington Post.

Said Collins: “The problem with the trigger is it just delays the public option.”

Flap breathes a little easier but the pressure should continue to mount by the LEFT to RAM the public option through the U.S. Senate.

One day after Club for Growth President Pat Toomey said he may challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) in a 2010 primary, the group’s members have voted Specter as the group’s “Comrade of the Month” along with Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snow (R-ME) for their votes in favor of President Obama’s stimulus package.

“While Senators Specter, Collins, and Snowe tout the stimulus bill as a compromise, it was more of a capitulation to the Democrats than anything else. Had these three senators voted with the rest of their party, President Obama would have been forced to engage the Republicans in a genuine compromise. Instead, American taxpayers are saddled with an $800 billion bill that will do little to stimulate the economy,” Club for Growth Executive Director David Keating said in the group’s press release.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele told Neil Cavuto that he is open to cutting GOP funding for the 3 Senate traitors who voted for the largest spending bill in US history. Steele says he will wait and see what the state GOP parties decide about the traitors. Senators Specter, Snowe and Collins voted in favor of the trillion dollar pork-bloated bill.

Good bloviating by Steele but when the rubber meets the road, it is ONLY the 8o year old Specter who is up in 2010 that this really affects. The GOP will eventually lose these three sets in the Northeast unless they rebuild the party and recruit some better candidates.

So, the GOP has a dilemma.

Exit Question: Does the RNC support moderate U.S.Senators who are meeting the needs of their blue state constituents and vote GOP most of the time or do they throw incumbent and long-time Senators over the side because of a few votes?